The Deadly Deadline...gotta have 'em, ain't gotta love 'em

I've got a deadline. April 1st. That's not an April Fool's Day joke. That's for REAL. That is my deadline to have a polished, revised, manuscript to my editors so book three of The Zombie West Series can make its release debut in July. I've known about this deadline for quite some time now, and it's coming up quicker than I'd like.

I also fear I won't make it.

I still have a little over two months to make the deadline...but my muse seems to prefer watching videos on HULU and posting pins on Pinterest. (Stupid muse). I can't seem to MAKE myself write. It's almost as though the looming deadline has crippled my creativity. I'm anxious, nervous, and fearful, which is never a good combination for a writer. To meet my deadline, I figure I need to write 1,000 words a day. Every day. So that I have plenty of time for revisions and beta reading.

So ask me what I wrote yesterday? Na-da. Not a thing. I have my manuscript open on my laptop, the little tab beckons me, but whenever I try to write, I find myself fixing a few words here and there or adding a few more details to what I've already written, but not really adding significantly to my word count at all. If I don't get my act together, then the having to write 1,000 words a day will change to HAVING to write 2,000 words a day, which is even worse. And the even worser worse thing (I know that's not the way to say that, but I like it)...not meeting my deadline at all and having to push back the release of book three to sometime in the Fall. I really don't want to do that, yet, if things don't change soon, that will be my reality.

Without deadlines, I will just screw around. With deadlines...I'm still screwing around. So what is wrong with me? Maybe I'm just a screw-arounder-kinda-gal (Wow. That sounds bad). You know what I mean. Somehow I've got to get into a groove...somehow.

*takes deep breath to calm rapidly beating, anxious heart*

How to fix this, how to fix this...I'm at a loss. But something has to change. I don't have to like the deadline or the concept of one, but I do know it's needed or else nothing will ever get done. My catch-22. 

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Goals in writing are dreams with deadlines--Brian Tracey

Help. Any suggestions to get my muse to stop screwing around would be highly appreciated. What tricks or tips do you use to meet deadlines? What do you think of deadlines overall? How do you keep yourself on track? Leave a comment, 'cause boy do I need some advice.